How did you get into sport?
This is the “How did you get into sport?” podcast where we explore the ins and outs of working in high performance sport.
These are conversations with leaders in the industry about their journey and most importantly how they got to where they are. Working in professional sport is one of the most sought after yet highly competitive industries with limited professional organisations offering opportunities to work at the highest level of their respective sports.
This podcast was created on the back of countless conversations with a diverse range of experienced professionals overly frustrated yet still highly motivated to work in their dream role and asking the question “How did you get to work in professional sport and what did you have to do to get there?” Host Luis Resa is a Sports Physiotherapist who has worked in various elite professional organisation both in Australia and internationally.
In each episode, Luis has deep conversations with Sports Physiotherapist, S&C coaches, Head coaches, High Performance Managers and other leaders in the field of elite sport to discuss what it takes to excel in the world of sport as well as diving deeply into the intricacies of what got their foot in the door of some of the world’s most desirable roles.
Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. In the meantime, enjoy a deep conversation and learn the specific do’s and don’ts of both securing and surpassing expectations in the field of high performance sport.
How did you get into sport?
Jason Weber - This could be the missing piece to the injury prevention puzzle. Founding CEO of SpeedSig and S&C Coach for the QLD Reds, NSW Waratahs (Super Rugby), Australian National Team (Wallabies) and Fremantle Dockers (AFL)
Jason has over 30 years experience in the industry and during his time at the pinnacle of both Rugby and AFL he has taken his experience and expertise and developed a novel analytics tool to assist both medical and performance staff navigate the challenges around injury prevention, rehabilitation and return to play decision making with SpeedSig. Not only has Jason contributed to the industry through his recent technology he has also been a regular voice in the industry and assisted some of the most well known practitioners navigate their own journeys in sport. This is a unique and candid conversations filled with an abundance of technical insights and unfiltered truths around what it takes to excel in the world high performance sport.
Highlights from the episode…
- Having been exposed to the likes of strength coach Ian King, this is what led to an interest in doing one of the first sports science courses offered in NSW.
- ‘Its not for everyone and may not even be necessary!” Jason shares what to consider when deciding to do a PhD.
- Having been told he was wrong on a number of occasions this motivated Jason to seek answers for himself which was the catalyst of his PhD and in turn SpeedSig.
- The evolution of sport scientists in elite sport and the move from not just looking at WHAT athletes are doing but HOW they are doing it.
- How Jason got his foot in the door of elite sport with his first role at the QLD Reds.
- Jason and I discuss the tension between not working for free and finding a way of getting your foot in the door of a highly competitive industry.
- Jason has taken some huge risks and massive investments starting SpeedSig and the biggest investment of all is not what you think.
- Having seen abnormalities in movement through a “coaches eye”, Jason wanted to find a way to quantify this and do it at scale, which he feels SpeedSig can assist teams with.
- Why conventional off field objective measures may be missing the mark when it comes to return to play decision making.
- How do you know what you’re observing through SpeedSig is causative and not just correlative?
- “Collecting the dots vs. connecting the dots”. How SpeedSig works, what it does and how to use the information gathered to inform decision making.
- Being a high performance manager how have you managed how medical and performance staff may view things differently when it comes to return to sport decision making.
- When there is non-consensus in a performance team, how do you effectively make a collaborative decision about an athlete?
People mentioned:
- Ian King: https://kingsports.net/about-2/
- Prof Rob Newton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/profrobnewton/?originalSubdomain=au
- Chris McLellan: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5WvV4e6B5twcYl2Bw1Edwx
- Zach Higginbotham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-higginbotham-8a5862222/
- Tim McGrath: https://open.spotify.com/episode/73xkOCQlyT1RJ0u9s3ybdE
- Aaron Coutts: https://profiles.uts.edu.au/Aaron.Coutts
- Linda Bennetts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-bennetts-a801542b/?originalSubdomain=au
Jason Weber contact details:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-weber-928a0032/
- Website SPEEDSIG: https://www.speedsig.com
- Two coaches & a coffee podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5cCwmakTSa25EUXVznTjCW
- X: https://x.com/JasonAWeber
Host: Luis Resa
Contact me on:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-resa-a975196b/
- Email: luis.resa@outlook.com
Thanks for listening and please leave a review. If you would like more information on anything mentioned in this episode simply send me an email.
